Robert B. Parker's Wonderland

Henry Cimoli and Spenser have been friends for years, yet the old boxing trainer has never asked the private eye for a favor. Until now. A heavy-handed developer is trying to buy up Henry's condo on Revere Beach and sends thugs to move the process along. Soon Spenser and his apprentice, Zebulon Sixkill, find a trail leading to a mysterious and beautiful woman, a megalomaniacal Las Vegas kingpin, and plans to turn to a chunk of land north of Boston into a sprawling casino. Bitter rivals emerge, alliances turn, and the uglier pieces of the Boston political machine look to put an end to Spenser's investigation. Aspiration, greed, and twisted dreams all focus on the old Wonderland dog track where the famous amusement park once fronted the ocean. For Spenser and Z, this simple favor to Henry will become the fight of their lives.

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The last stop on the Blue Line is "Wonderland" named for a now defunct dog track built on the site of a historic defunct Amusement Park with an iconic wooden roller coaster (also defunct). Unknown interests have bought this site and want to build a casino here. They also need adjacent properties including one belong to Henry Cimino, old friend and boxing mentor to Boston private eye Spenser.
Henry asks Spenser to look into the people who want him and his fellow property owners out utilizing none too subtle tactics. Before long Spenser and his protégé Z will be up to their necks in intrigue, double-dealing and bloodshed in this Ace Atkins latest addition to the Robert B. Parker series.

This is the first book that I've read post Robert B Parker of the Spenser series written by Ace Atkins that melds Parker's characters with Atkins writing style to produce a worthwhile product. Most long-time readers of the Spenser series will still notice stylistic differences. The most common one is that the scene descriptions are more detailed and that some of the commonly used Parker tropes such as Spenser's home cooking. beer ordering, etc still seemed to be injected rather than a natural part of the narrative. At the same time the plotting is better than in most of the Parker books. The Kirkus review provides a summary of the action.

karcoldelharvic5
Jul 15, 2014

It's still good to read a Spenser book, Ace Atkins carries on Robert Parkers series well.

Even though this book was written by someone other then Robert B. Parker it was still a good read. Ace Atkins did will to keep it going as Robert Parker would have written. He just need to bring Hawk back into the picture.

brightman
Jan 06, 2014

Mr Parker's estate chose wisely when they announced that Ace Atkins would carry on the legact of Spenser. I have both read or listened to almost all the Spenser novels, and although I was a bit disappointed that "Hawk" never made an appearance, this book was pure Parker (Atkins) through-and-through

akasq
Jun 29, 2013

ROBERT B. PARKER'S SPENSER
lives. All the great character's are back
ACE ATKINS does a real good job
After reading all of the Spence
novels,It's nice to be home.